blazingcannon

yummahuh, I'd shure love to jump with y'all again down there where it's warm and sunny... I can feel fall in the air here lately..it's sad ! : ) "Spread your legs and fly"

Ya, when I was learning too, they were saying "learn the X first" I've found that daffy's very comfy when you're hangin out, and flying with slowies. but I have more range of movement with the X positoin. I can use my hands to dock at the sides and front, wheras if I'm daffy with my legs totally front and back and I take my arms away to dock, I end up losing balance. I found when I was training for my ball test, I started trying out daffy and X to see which one was more useful, and the X won out. Daffy's definitely more comfortable, though. : ) Ahh- daffy. : ) "Spread your legs and fly"

hey..weird. I replied but it didn't post it..... a anyway I was just going to write that mike said the reason I passed the test though I didn't land with the ball was because I knew something was wrong and went for the ball as soon as I realized it came out. It scares me to think what might have happened had I tracked off! Next time I'm totally taping and pinning the zipper of my jumpsuit so nothing comes out!! : ) "Spread your legs and fly"

"Spread your legs and fly"

Ya, I've been thinking about putting together a "headdown-body-position workout tape" of my technique... I'm gonna call the technique "Skye-Bo" . (tae bo) Ha ha! Ya, and then I'll put together a Real-TV-like blooper tape of people falling down in front of mirrors, falling out of boats, off bicycles and out of car windows as people attempt to "feel the relative wind for free" ha ha... Cheers mon! "Spread your legs and fly"

Hey Krista, good to hear from you. Thx! Ya, it was a total mind-fuck, so I fought back and reverse-psyched myself out- I just went out with the attitude that I wouldn't pass the test, so I could just go out and have fun learning with the ball. It worked! Here's the video if you're interested. It's like 2.23 MB quicktime progressive download. http://webhome.idirect.com/~blazingcannon/video/balltest/glenBall.mov Actually to make it more interesting for the whuffo fam-damily, I edited in another guy's perspective who wore a camera during his test, so they could get a better sense of what it's like to fly with the ball. You can see dave brown in the video- but I did mine with mike swanson. : ) Oh, and, um, note how it comes out of my jumpsuit after I passed... Big hugs for you krista! Glen "Spread your legs and fly"

A similar potato-chip type thing happens when your legs are tense when learning headdown too. I was trying ot keep my legs really wide, so I tensed them up. Well gosh darnit, didn't I just take off in a real funny unpredictable way all over the sky, back and forth and stuff. As soon as I learned to relax, I started going straighter down. : ) "Spread your legs and fly"

I did the same thing with like 25 jumps- check out my post in "safety and training".. "lowtimer self induced linetwists" :) Cheers, "Spread your legs and fly"

Ahh, more stories to tell- her'es another one. Back when I had like 25 jumps or so - my first time on a ZP canopy- right off Manta 265's or something, Woo hoo- radical turns! Being Mr.Happytogglejockey, there I am wrenching down the right toggle, then thinking I can quickly compensate for the turn by whipping down the other one. Well, don't I forget about our dz's "no radical canopy turns for students below 2000 ft rule" and give myself enough momentum to spin myself into like 4 or 5 linetwists...at 1100 ft. There I am kicking out of twists at 1000 ft flying backwards- kicking, kicking.. and then it occurs to me...maybe I have to do emergency procedures... So I look down (stiill twists, flying backwards) and grab the first shiny handle I see, thinking, " didn't my instructor tell me that sometimes there's situations where you should just go for your reserve?" I didn't pull it ( aeee! thank god- i'm still here, out of my jumping-teens) Lesson learned: With low jump numbers, practise those reserve procedures properly till you puke- Cutaway, reserve. Man, it scares me to think how little awareness I had when I was starting out. Awareness is still something I have to work on. : ) Cheers and free beers, "Spread your legs and fly"

oh, I payed up with plenty beer, and got good and toasted on it too!. *hic* Man though, it's amazing how I was elated after my first cutaway, and then for a few days later I was freaked thinking about what could have happened. I did, however, borrow someone's rig right afterward and got right back in the plane. My gf was glad- she likes to jump with me : ) But my second cutaway was a lot easier cause I knew the feeling of "making the decision". Cheers! "Spread your legs and fly"

Get this- my first mal on my 161st jump. Spinning lineover mal, my 150 sabre looked like a bowtie. My gf watching the whole thing under canopy. Spins gradually increasing in strength.... Spin pattern kind of elliptical. I end up chopping on the top of one of the spins, and just like I practised in the plane 161 times, I pulled my reserve right away. I was on the top of the "arc of fling" when I chopped and was looking up at my canopy when I pulled my reserve. Reserve bridle comes off my back and up around the left side of my neck as my body is turning into the bridle so as to strangle me... and I'm watching my reserve pc inflate as I'm going " holy shit " and clearing my neck from the bridle...aieee... I just feel lucky I didn't have a camera on! anyway, so ....Poof! Reserve, and an uneventful ride. Lesson learned?- get your legs up your ass when you chop so you don't end up on your back. I've noticed that in the canadian skydiving manuals or PIMs for students, the very important part about getting your legs up your ass when you chop comes at the back of the second book. So now when I'm in the plane and practising using my handles, I tense up my legs as if I had them up me arse. Funny thing though- on my second cutaway- (line twists), I think I put my legs back, but then my canopy dove so I was belly to earth anyway- and after I chopped I was thinking- ahh..time to get stable...- when my reserve opened. - I had pulled it without thinking. Hope this saves someone else's neck, cause not doin the leg thing almost broke mine! Cheers, "Spread your legs and fly"

Quote my canopy opened and began turning to the left, as this was happening the canopy also decided to throw me into a series of line twists, which caused the canopy to start spinning and when I say spinning I mean outa control. ___________________________________ exact same thing happened to me, dude. I had been sloppy in stowing my brakes- never really yanked on the steering line so it wouldn't come out of the velcroless holder thingy, and yup, I opened with lotsa twists, and my heatwave elliptical dove in front of me at one point during the spins- that's when I chopped it - belly-to earth without even having to arch! Frickin cable housing from my reserve smacked me in the face on the "ching ching" and I dropped my reserve pillow by the surprise, and then was under a twisted reserve, but my PD 143 flies so nice, it just sat there and waited for me to kick out of them. I was able to react quickly on this one cause I recognized the uncontrolled cant-do anything-feeling since I had a spinning lineover in march. Looking back, I rememberd that I pulled my rear risers a bit and was trying to kick out the spins, but that didn't work. Also, I didn't try releasing the other brake, which someone suggested to me, but then I think I didn't do that cause I was spinning so fast and also I think the risers were twisted over the brakes anyways. One other thing.- I had been having surprise brake releases lately anyway, but I just thought that was bad luck. Nope. it was me! Cheers! "Spread your legs and fly"

Point taken!. Hey, does it cost anything to take the 3-D test? ( I mean other than the cost of the jump and outside video) ? The AD test cost me like 150bucks (canadian) (= $5 US haha) "Spread your legs and fly"

Just compare how many people have their 3-D award and how many have passed the AD-D test and there's probably your answer! Though AD-D is pretty specific to headdown. (though swanson has passed the AD-A test, I believe, while head-up... cool!) "Spread your legs and fly"

Here are some other things you can do- , though they're not as comfortable or as safe, but they're free and increase sensitivity to how upper body position affects wind deflection as well as simply what it feels and sounds like to go straight down: Get someone to drive you around fast in a bowrider boat- get up front and see if you can get your whole torso and head straight into that relative wind. Try arching and see what the wind does. Do you feel some turbulent air on your back? What about with your head forward? Hmm..turbulence on your chest? Now try getting straight with that position you learned in the mirror. Hmm...air feels smooth across my face and the back of my neck, as well as chest and back. That's "going straight down". It also sounds smoother. Oh, and try not to fall out of the boat! Another option is to do this on a bicycle. Go real fast and then stand up in the pedals and bend at the waist with a straight upper body into the relative wind so it's parallel to the ground. Not very safe, and for some probably scary, but it's the same deal. Or you can climb on top of a moving car and do the same. (not recommended) : ) It's all about playing with the element. Air is free- skydives aren't! Cheers! "Spread your legs and fly"

-----------"How can you do that standing on the ground? Are you standing up in front of that mirror and imagining to fly upside down? How can you relax then like you would up there? "--------------- Yup, just stand there in front of the mirror, breathe deep and imagine. You certainly can't duplicate the feeling of being headdown in freefall- jeez, otherwise I'd have my stoopid freefall grin goin on all the time! The idea is to get instant and free feedback on upper body posture again and again right away, so you can lock it in and start thinking about other things like what your legs are doing. (it's like tuning the leading edge of your wing which is your body in HD) The more expensive (but way more fun) way to do all this would be to simply go out with a coach with video and make the jumps! Cheers, "Spread your legs and fly"

thx for the nice words guys. : ) haha jeffie, fa kuen gai! and hay rachill, how you doin! that sitjump was fun! Ya, man, I'd love to travel to more US dropzones, if I only had the "ka ching!" : ) "Spread your legs and fly"

hey jeffie! wazzup! I will say hi to sarah for ya... and sti will be in the ranks as soon as we're finished with the frankenotter at gan this weekend : ) Cheers! "Spread your legs and fly"

I totally agree. Having an AD a says a bit about proximity and Basic HD flying ability, but that's it. It's amazing how many people think that because I got my AD-A, that I can now load organize, coach, lead tracking dives, ..even do a HD cartwheel..(I only practised the left 360 and frontloop for my test! : ) ) There's a myth that needs debunking here, I think. Now, as soon as you think about the AD-B and up, that starts saying something about your all-around HD flying ability. totally. as far as the 3-D test- it totally says a lot more about all-around flying ability. Cheers! "Spread your legs and fly"

also, I have a javelin and I get these people who peel open my reserve flap like a can of delmonte fruit salad so that when I check my reserve before the next jump, it's all bent, ready to catch air on sit jumps. Having to tell people how to pull the flap open without bending it all to crap is a hassle. I wish I had the flexibility to check my own reserve! : ) "Spread your legs and fly"

Might want to try this - it really helped me to quickly get stable headdown- Because the time up there is so short, practise on the ground. How? Take out a full body mirror so you can see the side profile of your body. Try to imagine yourself "getting into your headdown position", and then do it how you regularly do it. Hold your position and and take a look at the side profile of your body. Is your body straight up and down? Try to get your body straight. is your neck sticking out forward? - tuck your chin in a bit. (this might be your backflying problem) Are your shoulders muscles engaged, causing you to arch or cup forward? Relax your shoulders. You should be able to see your hands in your peripheral vision. Get those legs out. Now is your body straight? Once you see a straight body in the mirror, that's pretty much it. It's all simple aerodynamics , baybeh. Remember what that position feels like. Go from where your position was, to your new, straighter position. Feel the difference. Physically imagine exiting your chosen aircraft, then "ready, set ..go " and assume the position, again in front of the mirror. Straight? If not, fix it so you're straight. Treat it like a workout or something. Put on some music. Practise again and again until you can go from a scrunched up exit position to your straight position with your eyes closed- check the mirror... Still straight! Yeah! Note that this explanation is just a quick one and there's lots of details missing and that this may not work for everyone, but it did wonders for my flying. Lemme know what you think of my idea : ) G. "Spread your legs and fly"

thx for your input. ya, definitely starting small would be safer. : ) "Spread your legs and fly"

Anyone got any tips in the following? -Starting off leading headdown flocking dives. (Just got my AD, now people are expecting me to load organize! It's funny.) Also, Indy 500 / Carving. - I'm finding I pop up on the turns around the pylons ie. how to be really fast, yet stay on level with the pylons...is it just a matter of going slower? or maybe start the push forward, be in a "straight down" position as the momentum carries you to the next pylon, then lean back into the carve and get small? I also pop up when carving around a single person.- urg! Anyone with suggestions- I'd really appreciate it : ) "Spread your legs and fly"